Evaristo and Cadwalladr awarded CILIP honorary fellowships

Bernardine Evaristo and Carole Cadwalladr have been awarded honorary fellowships by CILIP this year, an award given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the library and information world.    

Evaristo, who jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 for her novel Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton), was recognised by CILIP for her “outstanding contribution to literacy, reading and representation in literature”. The organisation said: “Through her work, she has encouraged a new generation of readers to find themselves in literature and to go on to imagine a better, more inclusive and representative world.” 

Author and investigative journalist Cadwalladr rose to international prominence in 2018 for her role in exposing the Cambridge Analytica data scandal for which she was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. She is awarded her fellowship in recognition of her “outstanding contributions to journalism, evidence and the fight against misinformation”.  

Chris Morrison, copyright and licensing specialist at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, also gets a fellowship. Together with senior lecturer Dr Jane Secker, he forms half of copyrightliteracy.org – the website that aims to make learning about copyright “fun, engaging and empowering” for information professionals and learning specialists. He is awarded his fellowship in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to copyright education and its impact on the library and information profession”.   

Dr Carolynn Rankin worked as an information management specialist for 20 years before moving into professional LIS education in 2000. She was course leader for the CILIP-accredited MSc Information Studies course at Leeds Metropolitan University (now Leeds Beckett University) before taking early retirement as a university lecturer in August 2012. For nine years she has served as a CILIP accessor, conducting evaluations for university programme accreditation and short course accreditation and is recognised for her “outstanding contribution to advancing professionalism in library and information practice, to children’s librarianship and to the cause of international collaboration”. 

Caroline Roche is a leading figure in the school library community, known to many as “Heart of the School” for her tireless advocacy of the importance of school librarians. She has been a hugely effective chair of the CILIP School Libraries Group since 2017 and has successfully co-chaired the Great School Libraries campaign since 2020. In her nomination, her colleagues wrote: “She is a consummate professional and an exemplary role model for school librarians everywhere, and fully deserves to be awarded an honorary fellowship in recognition of her services and contribution to our profession.”  

The final award goes to Dr Sian King, who has made a “profound” contribution to the library and information profession during a professional career spanning more than 50 years. Her career included roles in health, higher education and further education before becoming head of library at the Public Record Office at Kew and subsequently technical services librarian for the House of Lords. She is awarded an honorary fellowship in recognition of her “outstanding contribution to advancing professionalism in library and information practice over the course of her career”.